Original Islington Mod Paul Grant RIP

One face missing from the 2022 August Bank Holiday Mod Weekender at Brighton was Paul Grant, who died in July after a car accident while driving near his home in Totnes, Devon. On August bank holiday weekend 2021, Paul and his cherished black and chrome Messerschmitt GS travelled to Brighton to show it off on the seafront, the first time he’d taken his scooter there since 1964 – that’s only a 57-year gap!

He first fell in love with the Vespa when he was a Mod in 1963 in Islington, London and in 1964 he ventured down to Brighton on his GS where the Mods and Rockers were brawling on the beach. As Paul once explained: “I was responsible for throwing a deckchair on the beach but didn’t get into any fights.” In the 60s he always dressed impeccably and would often be part of the audience in shows such as Ready

Steady Go. He was very proud of his Mod connection and often reminisced about the 1960s and his love of Vespas.

Paul had been a popular member of the Torbay Mods Scooter Club and owned three vintage Vespas: a Messerschmitt GS and two Vespa GS160 models. Although he was in his late 70s and unable to ride the scooters due to health reasons, he still liked to open the garage door and push them out to start them up occasionally while trying not to be overcome by the smoke!

He was interviewed on the radio in 2016 by Ian and Jade from The Vinyl Avengers and their interesting conversation between some of Paul’s selected music tracks can be heard on a YouTube video.

Search Paul Grant Interview 2016 on YouTube.

Paul lived as a real Mod all his life, often saying: “Once a Mod, always a Mod” which in his case was very true. He will be sadly missed by his wife Pauline, our club members and all his friends.

RIP Islington Mod.

Paul Savin

Co-founder Torbay Mods Scooter Club